Desperate for laborers to keep the trains moving during World War II; the U.S. and Mexican governments created a now mostly forgotten bracero railroad program that sent a hundred thousand Mexican workers across the border to build and maintain railroad lines throughout the United States; particularly the West. Although both governments promised the workers adequate living arrangements and fair working conditions; most bracero railroaders lived in squalor; worked dangerous jobs; and were subject to harsh racial discrimination. Making matters worse; the governments held a percentage of the workers' earnings in a savings and retirement program that supposedly would await the men on their return to Mexico. However; rampant corruption within both the railroad companies and the Mexican banks meant that most workers were unable to collect what was rightfully theirs.Historian Erasmo Gamboa recounts the difficult conditions; systemic racism; and decades-long quest for justice these men faced. The result is a pathbreaking examination that deepens our understanding of Mexican American; immigration; and labor histories in the twentieth-century U.S. West.
#577587 in Books 2008-01-31Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.02 x .79 x 5.98l; 1.18 #File Name: 0295988193320 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. it's a good book; but very extensive use of words sometimes ...By LuchBought for class; it's a good book; but very extensive use of words sometimes hard to read.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Wonderful monographBy KristenThe New Woman in Uzbekistan by Marianne Kamp is one of the absolute best monographs I've read. It's very engaging; incredibly well-written; well-organized; well-argued; and addresses big themes that lend well to discussion. She uses both written sources and oral history in very effective ways to pull out women's voices. She also has a very good discussion over historiography in her introduction that address some of the weaknesses that she finds in other works with similar topics.I used this for a research paper about religion and agency in the early Soviet Union and loved it so much I had to buy my own copy :)
